East Meets West – A reel-life Journey through the lives of women from China, Taiwan and India
[Miami, Florida -- March 3, 2009] OCA-South Florida is most delighted to support the Women’s International Film Festival (WIFF) by hosting an Asian Night on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at Cinema Paradiso – 503 SE 6 Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
At the WIFF’s Asian Night – East Meets West – A reel-life Journey through the lives of women from China, Taiwan and India featuring seven films and documentaries about women and produced and/or directed by women.
“OCA-South Florida commends WIFF for their effort to support and promote women, who represent only 5-7% of the global film industry,” states Winnie Tang, President of OCA-South Florida Chapter and member of WIFF’s Board of Directors. “Among these films, we are proud to see Andrea Lwin, one of our local Asian American young women, who produces a short film of herself hoping to catch her big-break in Hollywood after moving from Fort Lauderdale.”
“At this Asian Night, we also cherish the documentary of the extraordinary work of the late Iris Chang – The Rape of Nanking – the forgotten holocaust of World War II,” says Winnie Tang. “It was a great loss of the Chinese American community that Historian Iris Chang won many battles but lost the war raging within her in 2004.”
For more information / tickets, please contact 305-693-9800 or www.womensfilmfest.com.
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WOMEN’S International film festival
In cooperation with
South Florida Economic Foundation
present
EAST MEETS WEST
A REEL-LIFE JOURNEY THROUGH THE LIVES OF WOMEN FROM
CHINA, TAIWAN AND INDIA
March 5th – Thursday (6-10pm)
at
Cinema Paradiso
503 SE 6 Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Capacity to Transform
Directed by Mary Buckley
28 minutes • 6:00pm
USA/India Documentary – World Premiere
Capacity to Transform, a moving portrait of three Indian NGO leaders, Ksmama Metre, Mallika Sarabhai and Sheela Patel. A physician, a performing artist, and a sociologist guide women centered community networks to establish self- reliance programs. Basic human needs such as housing, health care, clean water, and education are the agenda items; and community women are finding exciting and empowering solutions to meet the challenges.
Gearing Up
Directed by Sheetal S. Agarwal
Hong Kong, 27 minutes • 6:30pm
East Coast Premiere
The Indian Institutes of Technology (‘IITs’) are regarded as the hardest engineering school in the world to enter, with a success rate of 2% in the entrance examination. Their alumni have run international companies (Sun Microsystems, Vodafone, Citigroup etc) and can be found everywhere from Silicon Valley to Wall Street. ‘Gearing Up’ is the story of four teenagers leading up to the IIT entrance examination – considered by many as the most important in their lives.
In Search Of The Bene Israel
Producer & Director: Sadia Shepard
38 minutes • 7:00pm
Regional Premiere/Florida Premiere
When filmmaker and author Sadia Shepard’s Jewish Indian grandmother married her Muslim grandfather and moved to Pakistan, she became separated from the Bene Israel community of Bombay that she was raised in. Before Shepard’s grandmother died, she promised her that she would return to her birthplace to learn about the way of life she had left behind. In Search of the Bene Israel is the story of the filmmaker’s journey to reconnect with the Bene Israel, a group of less than 5000 who believe that they were shipwrecked in India 2000 years ago and are in the process of a community-wide migration to Israel.
Artemesia
Directed by Chiang Hsiu-chiung
Taiwan, 85 minutes • 8:00 pm
The movie follows Wu Ai-tsao who, like the plant that gave its name to the film, has to adapt to its environment in order to survive. A devoted mother, Wu tries to strike a balance between her conservative upbringing and her children raised in a fast-changing society.
Forgive
Directed by Manjinder Virk
United Kingdom, 14 minutes • 9:15pm
World Premiere
Not everything can be forgiven but some things can be forgotten. Forgive tells the heartbreaking story of a father and a son. Two conversations, five years apart, alter their paths for the rest of their lives.
SLANTED
Directed by Andrea Lwin
USA, 6 minutes • 9:30 pm
The story a Chinese Muslim family who have lived in Fort Lauderdale since the 80s. True to their culture, Jinda and Nyunt Lwin share their house with their three grown children. The story revolves around 26-year old Andrea, an aspiring actress, who must navigate the culturally limited world of Fort Lauderdale’s acting community in the hopes of catching her “big break” so she can finally move to Hollywood and free herself from her meddling immigrant parents.
Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking
Directed by Bill Spahic
Canada, 96 minutes • 10:00pm
Regional Premiere
Iris Chang: The Rape Of Nanking is a feature documentary about a young Chinese-American author’s journey into the darkest reaches of humanity as she researched and wrote her best selling book, ‘The Rape of Nanking’. Iris Chang’s harrowing experience and dogged determination uncovers in graphic detail the forgotten holocaust of World War II when almost 300,000 Chinese women, children and soldiers were in a matter of weeks systematically raped, tortured and murdered by the invading Japanese forces.
TICKETS: 305-653-9700
www.womensfilmfest.com
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